this place takes the cake for over charging and doing basic auto repair rip off please look around for a decent shop......over priced and if your a little on the dark side leave before you get taken!!!!!!!! avoid this business. read more

If you are looking for knowledgable, determined to fix, reasonable mechanics, look no further. Stu's AE is the choice for me and my family's cars. They have been fixing our vehicles for around a year now and have routinely treated us honestly and fairly. I have been to many different mechanics. I drive my vehicles till the wheels fall off. Stu's is the well earned champion of my searching and dealings. I would recommend anyone to bring any car here. You and your car will be treated well. Thank you, Jim, Jake, and crew for your solid work! read more

Yes Stu's Transmission is as good as it gets. Tim thank you for putting me at ease and thank you for your patience with my million questions. My transmission was rebuilt on my 97 Ford Fusion... a week after we drove up to the bay area and back, the ride was perfect. I will be back and will refer you to everybody I know.... THANKS read more

Tim and his staff are wonderful - The service on my 2006 Ford Expedition was top notch and the price for my service was $1000 cheaper than quoted at other places - I am very satisfied with my car and I will definitely be back and have already recommended them to others read more

Long story short: Stu's is amazing. After reading the reviews here and being referred by Jim's in Long Beach, I brought my 2007 Ford Explorer to Stu's last Monday afternoon. They were surprised it was even running because I had no second gear. It should not have moved under its own power, according to Jose, the mechanic who took it for a test drive. Tim gave me an estimate which, although painful, was far more reasonable than what I would have gotten from a dealership, and made my car a priority. The transmission was overhauled and rebuilt by Wednesday evening and I was able to go and pick it up for work that night. Tim worked with me and understood just how much of a financial jam this repair would put me in. He worked with my bank to keep the costs down. He even gave me a discount when he found out that the cost would be higher than his upper-end estimate, to bring it back down inside the estimate. I can't say enough good things about this shop. I will be servicing both my cars at Stu's from here on out. read more

These guys are awesome. They are a honest, reliable, trustworthy business. Why would you go anywhere else? I had a great experience with Tim and he got the job done right. Took my van in and in just about a day solved the engine problem I've been having for a while that several other shops couldn't even fix. It was a true value going their. Saved me lots of money! read more

Stu's takes care of you and your car: I've been going to Stu's for 5 years now, starting when my Suburban needed transmission work. The owner, Tim, took care of me, and his guys rebuilt my transmission. The cost was much less than I expected based on my research. He's also rebuilt the rear diff, and done all the regular maintenance on my Suburban since then. I've been very happy with the work there. I've also been bringing my wife's FX-35 in for maintenance including some brake-work. The brakes on her FX seem to squeak more than I would expect. On Tim's own suggestion, he has replaced brakes TWICE on warranty, and has taken care of problems with the FX that seem to be inherent to that model. My most recent trip into Stu's, I brought in my Suburban, with almost 200k mi, for him to give the once-over before a long trip. He had the brakes done, and replaced serpentine belts, and revitalized my AC. I felt much more comfortable driving that trip after that. Since I've been going there, I've not had any problems with the work done at Stus, and I have the impression that if there were any problems, Tim would take care of them for me. He strikes me as an honest and upfront person. I would not hesitate to recommend Stu's to any of my friends or family. Thanks Tim. -Dan M. read more

I rarely write Yelp reviews, but felt compelled to do so after having my transmission replaced by Stu's Ae Transmission. When I spoke with Tim regarding my transmission, he quoted me a very fair price so I took it in to his shop to get repaired. When Tim and his crew began working on my car, they ran into several unforeseen issues. Nonetheless, Tim stuck to his work and provided me the services at his initial quoted price. As someone who does not know much about car engines, I greatly appreciated Tim's honesty and integrity. I would HIGHLY recommend Stu's Ae Transmission to anyone! read more

I've been using Stu's A E Transmission for several years now, and I am so impressed with their honesty. If you want a great mechanic and honest one, I highly recommend them. They have fixed not only my cars, but our daughters cars as well. From new transmissions, to water pumps, to oil changes, what ever your need is, take it to them! Thank you Stu's A E Transmission for all you do for not just my family but the whole community. YOU ARE THE BEST!!! read more

Outstanding service Tim is excellent and the mechanics are highly skilled and technically proficient. There's is a rare shop and well worth the drive if your not local. read more

I really have mixed feelings about this place. Tim was very nice to me and really tried to explain everything so that I understood what was going on. That was nice. I paid nearly $3000 to have my TCM, ECM, and axle replaced. After replacing all those part my car was still in the exact same shape as before. All of the symptoms the car was having were exactly the same as the day I brought it in, which was 3 WEEKS prior. They had my car for 3 full weeks. Never helped pay for a rental. They finally called me to tell me that I could come pick up the car, but that I would need to take it to an auto electrician because everything else was fine, it had to be an electrical issue that they couldn't figure out. I decided to take it to Timmon's VW right down the road. The guys at Stu's had actually taken my car to Timmon's because they couldn't program the ECM themselves. What Tim fail to mention to me was that Timmon's reported to them that there were other diagnostic issues that needed to be looked at. I worked with a gentleman at Timmon's who ran the further diagnostics for me and told me that my issue was something entirely different. The folks at Timmon's VW were very helpful, I wish I would have just gone there first, but I thought I was going to spend more money going to a dealership. Wow, was I wrong. I will never take my vehicle here again. If I could go back I would just take it to the dealership right away rather than have Stu's charge me $3000, hold my car for 3 weeks, and return it in the same shape that it was in before. What a huge waste of time and money. read more

This shop will not honor their work when they have made a mistake. My rearend was rebuilt by this shop and less than 15,000 miles it was making noise and the best they said they could do was 100 dollars off the repair. The rearend was setup incorrectly and they said it was everything but their fault. If you want good honest work done Don't go here. read more

Stu's is great fixed my clutch, replaced my axle and axle bearings as well as rebuilding my rear diff (which I didn't know was jacked up) for 2200 it seems expensive but you have to spend if you want quality work done. I was taking my pony to mechanics who had cheap prices but, they completely trashed my clutch and didn't install it right causing me to lose money. Also, the crook mechanics were saying my cats were bad when I knew it was my exhaust manifold that was cracked. Thanks, Jake and Tim for taking care of my pony, she will be going back to you guys anytime there is an issue. Thaks!!! read more

on Dec. 20 2011 I took my car to Stu's at the suggestion of my mechanic because my car wanted to stall, skipping, they diagnosed a problem with the transmission, they replaced it, but that did not fix the problem Tim Giffin at Stu's called me to tell me he needed to take my car to the dealer to replace the computer which he did after everything was said and done my bill came to $4,076.32. All my car needed was to reprogram the ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE. later in my files I found a recall letter from Toyota, I placed a complain with the Bureau of Automotive Repair, they investigated but the Tim Giffin owner of Stu's refused to give me my money back, denied he was the owner at the time of the repair, I took him to small claims court but I lost the case because I could not appear due to an Emergency open heart surgery, I just got out of the hospital 2 days before court date I could not walk, talk, drive, the Judge dismissed my case with prejudice which meant I could not refile. read more

TL:DR - Would not recommend to my worst enemy. Poor service, dishonest, untrustworthy. they throw smokes and mirrors to make it seem like your getting a deal, but you're really being shafted. Don't be an idiot like me and go with this shop. Car was not going into 3rd gear, but was able to drive it to the shop. After their diagnosis and test drive, the transmission gave out and I couldn't even drive it out. Coincidence? Maybe. Realistically, it probably broke more while they were doing testing. I'll admit, I was upset at first, then I calmed down and hey, it was probably bound to happen anyway. Another thing, one of their tech started yelling at me saying I don't know !@#$. But whatever, I had bigger things to worry about. Anyways, after talking to Tim and seeing how I really don't have much of a choice, I went with them for the repair. While I was grabbing my things, I noticed one of their techs left the car dash on, I turned it off and let Tim know that. He said it wasn't going to be a problem. After picking up my vehicle, I noticed that the car had trouble starting, but started. I figured the battery just needed to recharge and what better way than to drive it through 5 o'clock 605 freeway traffic. The next morning, the car wouldn't start which means at the minimum I would be late to work and great, more car problems. I called the shop, and their tech said oh yeah your battery is dying. I called triple a for a jump thinking I would go to a local autozone or something to get a new battery. Tim called me back, I told him I know batteries dies and need replacement but my battery was fine before I took it to your shop, now it's dying. He said, not to worry and if I take the car in he'll replace the batter at his cost, he wanted to make this right. I was like cool. So I took my car in, they put the battery in and Tim hands me an invoice. I told him, I thought you were taking care of this, he said no, I said I would do it at my cost, which in his mind means what he pays for in parts. Wtf is that? I told him, I thought you going to take of this for free (mind you, I just spent thousands on a transmission job). He disagreed. I reluctantly gave him my card and told him that if I knew what you meant, I would've went somewhere else. Tim said, if you give me a good yelp review, then I'll give you the battery for free. I was like nah man and tried to sign the invoice. Tim rudely said not to sign it, unpolitely pushed the invoice my way, said it was a gift, and basically kicked me out of his shop. !@#$ this place! read more

My Mechanic, Jim, at Herb & Reds referred me to Tim to get my transmission checked out on a new used Volvo that we recently purchased. JIm is a long-time trusted mechanic and so I completely trusted his recommendation. I was not disappointed! Tim was incredibly informative, straight-forward, and very friendly. He spent time discussing the potential problems with our car, and we felt very reassured that the problem would get diagnosed correctly. Tim called me a day later to give me a status on my car and told me that it wasn't actually the transmission. We are obviously totally stoked about that news (since trannies cost SO much money to replace!) and were completely confident that Tim diagnosed the problem correctly. We will definitely be bringing our car back here in the unfortunate event that there IS a problem with the engine or transmission, or any other problems since Stu's repairs other problems, not just transmissions. I would highly recommend this place! Rare is a mechanic who is honest and trustworthy! read more

So this review is a bit over due. I was having some trouble with my clutch(manual trans) on my vehicle. I've had the same issues and went to a previous mechanic who ended up not helping at all and even made the issues with my vehicle worse. I ended up finding this shop on yelp so I decided to give it try hoping another shop wouldn't just try to take my money and not even fix the problems correctly. Going into the office, I explained my issue to the manager (apologies for not remembering his name) and he was very helpful. He told me that he knew exactly what was wrong with my car and that he would have someone check it right there on the spot even though they were packed with other cars that were being worked on. I initially thought it was my transmission going out since I wasn't getting power to my engine, when in reality my petal needed an adjustment. They ended up fixing it on the spot and didn't charge me for the adjustment! I was pleasantly surprised and extremely happy with the service. The mechanics care, which is hard to find. From now on my car will be coming here and I will recommend this shop to all my friends/family. read more

Good honest place. They work on just about anything. No sales pressure. They fix it, you pay, and go. No drama here. They have a long term local customer base and have even been working on vintage cars. read more

This review is long overdue. My wife and I are people who value professionalism, honesty and quality, especially when doing business. Stu's AE excels in all 3 of these categories plus more. Unlike my experiences with most other so called "auto repair businesses", my experiences with this company has been nothing short of excellent. I've gotten several different tasks done there and Tim & Jake were honest from the beginning about their pricing and how it's not the cheapest. Yet their service and quality is top of the line, so you're definitely getting your money's worth. They're also very accurate with the estimated timing of their work. It also helps that they partner with other customer-oriented companies for car rental, financing, and other services. So they make sure your needs are taken care while your car is being fixed. This is a company that values positive relationships with customers and it's shown through their actions. I thank God I've found a primary repair shop. Keep up the great work gentlemen and be careful in this heat. read more

Had a CEL code of P0700 a few months ago. The person that read the code for me cleared it, so when I went to Stu's, Tim said he couldn't do anything since the code was cleared out. Just asked me to come back if it came on again. So, had P0700 and P0730 come on and (of course) went back. Spoke with Tim, explained what codes I had. His initial comment was, you might have a Mercedes Transmission. I said Mercedes Trans on a Dodge? So he had his guy take a look, and sure enough. He said those can cost up to 5K, I said I'll get rid of the car. He went ahead and looked up the possible causes of the codes (P0700 s generic, P0730 has a small laundry list of possible issues) and found out there's been quite a few Magnum's with leakage around the connector. So he asked me to leave the car with him for a few days and he would go through all of the easy (cheap) checks first since P0730 could be a host of things. He called me the next day and said he couldn't find anything, but he'd like to keep the car another day. He called the next day again and said we couldn't find anything, come and get yer car :-) I was thrilled, only because I'm thinking it's only going to be cost of the diagnostics. He did say he wanted me to drive it for a while and if it comes back on, we'll have to go to the next level. I said no problem and handed him my debit card. No charge he says!! What initially drew me to his shop was the reviews, what brought me back to his shop (besides the CEL codes...LOL) was his initial honesty plus I saw quite a few police cars there. I thought, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me! If you look up "awesome" in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Tim next to it. If you have tranny problems, hope you don't, but if you do...I highly, highly recommend Stu's. Professional, honest and down to earth!! read more

Koko at Stu's is my dude. We were on a road trip with an 18 year old car and the transmission started freaking out. We were having trouble making it up hills and onto the highway and we really thought it would need service to get back to Boston. Pulling into Stu's we could tell by the size of the garage, all the classic cars, and the Long Beach city contract that we were in the right place. We saw Koko driving it around the block a couple times (he drives better than I do) and went back a couple hours later because we forgot something. He had me drive him around the block and explained very simply but in great detail why repairing the transmission would not be the best option. They checked the fluids and sent us on our way with no charge so please allow me to pay it forward by saying THANK YOU from a couple of college students. Stu's is the only thing in LA that we don't hate so please bring your business to them. read more

Stu's rebuilt the transmission in my 2007 F350 diesel. The transmission lasted less then 40,000 miles. I took it in less then a week before it blow up again and they couldn't or wouldn't diagnose the problem. Said it was out of warranty. read more

I am very pleased with Tim and his staff here! I took my Nissan Xterra 2006 in to him when my car was overheating and I was very stressed out at the time and he was so nice and reassuring about fixing my vehicle in a efficient and timely manner. Tim and his team here found all the problems with my Xterra and had my car running great at the end of this experience! His prices are good and the work is more than sound! He is honest and upfront with all your car needs! I sold my Xterra and felt great about the mechanical condition it was in and bought myself a new Nissan! Now I am going to Tim regularly for my oil changes and maintenance! I will forever be a customer here! Thanks guys for always taking care of me! read more

Great job. My check engine light came on and the speedometer stopped working on my Prelude. Stu's was able to diagnose the problem (faulty speed sensor) and got everything running smoothly again within a day. I'd recommend them. read more

My transmission was slipping, on recommendation from another shop, I took my car to Stu's. They took care of me. It was a simple thing to fix. They were honest, fast and more than fair. read more

Tim and his crew were very good...expediant and didnt charge anything additional than what my car truly needed. this time it was just an oil change and a filter change. tehy did a 32 point inspection while doing my oil change at no cost. this place isnt the cheapest, but they are trust worthy and will recommend trhis place every time! if ever i need to go for transmission or similar repairs, Stu's will be first on my list! read more

tim i believe is the owner or manager, this guy is honest and know his stuff he explain everything about my car problem step by step. i got the trans rebuilt on my 2000 tahoe, they got to it as soon as i gave them the ok to work on it tranny was out the same day, they have excellent customer service even tho is was my first time here . i felt very comfortable to leave my truck here not having to worry about getting ripped off by most shop out there. tim even showed me my old part from the transmission and he explained what part they replace and what cause the trans to go bad. i felt like i was a long time customer here because they treated me like i was their number one priority. read more

Tim and the team at Stu's are who I trust my family's vehicles with. They are always fast and have fair prices. We have had some real junkers and they never made me feel bad about it. Now that I have a newer car with lots of computerized notifications they can handle that too. I highly recommend Stu's Transmissions. read more

Tim and the others were so nice! Very kind and conversational with no up selling or BS. I sought out a few price quotes before coming here, and the price for my transmission maintenance was much more affordable than at the auto chains. I didn't have to wait too long, and was in and out in about an hour. Would highly recommend! PS there's a Burger King right across the street that has free wifi if you have a long wait. read more

When I went to Stu's, Tim explained to me what they will do to repair my transmission. He said that they will rebuild the transmission completely. After I picked up my car it ran beautifully and has continued to perform that way. Needless to say I am a satisfied customer. read more

Fast, quality service AT A FAIR COST. Tim was helpful and informative throughout the process. Had a clutch replaced for $500 less than two locations had estimated. Will be coming back. read more

Would like to give a shout out to Stu's Transmission! We have been going to them for years and they always are very fair and their customer service is fantastik. Prompt phone calls to let you know what's going on with your car. We are always more than satisfied! read more

I took my car to Stu's to replace a transmission. They did everything they said they would at a fair price. I will bring my business back!

After taking our 06 Mini to the Mini dealer and another mechanic we found Tim. He knew immediately what was wrong with the transmission and gave us a quote to fix it. We dropped the car off and were told he would need it a week. Less than a week later the car was ready and the job cost less than the quote! The car is running line new and can not recommend Tim and his team highly enough. read more

I took my mini to Stu to have the clutch done. 2500.00 dollars later, I pick up my car drive away & break down 5 miles from their shop. Now I need a new transmission (3800.00) . Oh yeah & they for got to tell me they snapped off my oil dipstick during clutch replacement. They are knowledgeable, but trustworthy & fair .?? I don't think so! I will never take my car, truck, van, or other there ever again. read more

Extremely Impressed! And I haven't even had the car serviced yet. It's coming back for service tomorrow but sometimes you just know when your car is in the right hands. After test driving it Jose was honest and let me know that my transmission did not have to be replaced entirely. The computer reported that solenoid A was out. He was upfront also about if they were to find metal shaving on the bottom of the transmission oil pan that it would mean a much bigger problem. I was aware of that possibility before i got there. From what i described, (only slipping on 1st gear not the others) he said it likely its just the solenoid. I know upfront the full story. Tim who I think is the owner sealed the deal. Honest, firm hand shake and direct look in the eye. Great to see honest family owned business doing a great job! read more

I can sum up the owner Tim with the comment "Uh, have bad news." Recently I discovered the repair work that was performed on my vehicle by Stu's, was sub-standard work.. The parts were not the correct parts for my rack and pinion. I know this because my steering was really bad, sometimes it was hard to control. The tow truck driver was even scared when he drove on the two truck. Turns out the fasteners (i.e. bolts) and bushings had fallen out. The Loctite process was done, however it was not torqued, truly by my Lord was I driving and still alive today. I stopped going to Tim and his son Jake because sometimes I felt disrespected or they couldn't remember who I was half the time. Did not feel their pricing was fair, many other things. Also, a small repair turned into thousands of dollars, which I have found out from the dealer should have not cost me more then 4 or 5 hundred.. The mechanics made mistakes, however, he said I had to pay for them. The list goes on. I guess you have to know him for years or be recommended by someone who is recognized by them to get the awesome service I keep reading and hearing about. Tim had several opportunities to prove me wrong. It just got too costly to go to him. Not to mention, talked me to like I was stupid. Son Jake was the worst. read more

I took my 2005 Acura TL to evaluate my transmission last week after having had some other work done on another issue by another local car repair place. The initial place were unwilling to look into my issue even though they had just worked on my car. They said that what they did could not possibly have caused a transmission problem and referred me to a transmission place that did not service transmissions but were happy to rebuild them for $3K. Turns out after Tim's team did some basic trouble shooting on my car they discovered a leak in a transmission related seal which caused my transmission oil to leak out and cause this new issue. Long story short, Tim worked with the other repair place to reimburse me for the issues they caused and now my car appears to be operating correctly. (no slipping gears due to lack of trans. fluid.) I will definitely be going back to Tim's shop for my future work which by the way they are a full service repair shop in addition to specializing in transmission work. read more

My son had his 2008 Honda Civic towed into Long Beach Honda and after their inspection they indicated that there was a total transmission failure and it would cost per $5,000 to fix. It didn't make sense to me because the car had only 45,558 miles on it. I called Stu's Transmission and talked to Tim about what he charges, after my conversation with him I was very confident that the car was in good hands. The car was towed to Stu's and they inspected the car and saw that the axel was broke. Tim called me right away and thought that this might be the only problem with the car. On Monday I called and spoke with Jason, he told me he would replace the axel and drive it around to make sure there are no other problems with the transmission. He called me back and said the car was running great. NO TRANSMISSION problem at all. I was so relieved and happy and yet furious with Long Beach Honda. When my son went to pick up his car he called me and said "man I love this place." Stu's Transmission saved the day and my bank account. Thank you so much Tim and Jason. read more